Attachment bracket for supporting decorative articles from a venetian blind



June 5, 1956 J. J. LONG 2,749,072

ATTACHMENT BRACKET FOR SUPPORTING DECORATIVE ARTICLES FROM A VENT-Tm: BLIND Filed May 7, 1952 Avuavroz 5/ Jamzsj a/y United States Patent '0 ATTACHMENT BRACKET FOR SUPPORTING DECORATIVE ARTICLES FROM A VENE- TIAN BLIND James J. Long, St. Paul, Minn.

Application May 7, 1952, Serial No. 286,498

7 Claims. (Cl. 248-214) This invention relates to a bracket for attaching decorative articles to a Venetian blind.

It is an object of my invention to provide a novel and highly effective attachment bracket for stably mounting a decorative article such as a small plant or novelty figure on a Venetian blind.

It is another object to provide a mounting bracket havat least a pair of spaced slat attachment elements adapted to be fixedly connected with a pair of spaced slats of a Venetian blind for pivotally mounting said bracket thereon whereby the angular relationship of said bracket will remain the same with respect to the horizontal and vertical regardless of the tilted position of the Venetian blind slats.

It is still another object to provide an attachment bracket for stably attaching a decorative article to three slats of a Venetian blind wherein the two upper slats are pivotally interconnected and have an outstanding horizontally disposed shelf member fixed to the interconnection member and the third slat is pivotally interconnected with said horizontal shelf by a diagonally disposed bracing strut pivotally attached at the outer portion of said shelf.

It is still a further object to provide an adjustable bracket structure adapted to be easily and quickly attached to certain slats of a Venetian blind regardless of the spacing between said slats and having means for stably attaching a decorative article to said bracket.

It is a further object of my invention to provide an attachment bracket for stably mounting decorative articles on a Venetian blind and including means for anchoring the slats of the blind to the supporting tapes to increase the stability of the article and bracket mounted thereon.

These and other objects and advantages will more fully appear from the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to the same or similar parts throughout the several views in which:

Fig. l is a front elevational view of a typical Venetian blind having both forms of my invention attached thereto and including the slat anchoring clip;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view showing one form of my attachment bracket;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially along the line 33 of Fig. 2; p

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view' showing an alternative form of my invention; and i i Figs. 5 and 6 are respectively vertical sectional and perspective views of the slat anchoring .clip, Fig. 5 being taken substantially along the line 5-5 of Fig. l. j I As illustrated in the accompanying drawings, I show a conventional Venetianblind having a plurality of slats 10, 11 and 12 supported in a conventional manner on a plurality of vertically suspended tapes such as the tape 13 shown in Fig. l with a second tape 14, best shown in Figs. 2, 4 and 5, disposed in spaced parallel relation behind said tape 13. The tapes 13 and 14 are interconnected at spaced intervals by slat supporting webs 15 ice of conventional design. The slats in Figs. 1, 2, 4 and 5 are obviously shown in slightly tilted position.

The form of my invention illustrated in Figs. 2, 3 and on the left hand side of Fig. 1 is designated by the letter A and consists in a pair of slat attachment clips 16 and 17 which are adapted to be fixedly mounted on a pair of slats such as the two adjacent slats 10 and 11. The rear ends of the clips 16 and 17 are doubled back around the rear edge portions of the respective slats 1tl and 11 and the front portions of the slips 16 and 17 have slat receiving recesses formed therein to receive the front edge portions of the respective slats 10 and 11. An interconnection member 18 extends between a forwardly extending portion of the clips 16 and 17, said portions being respectively designated by the numerals 16a and 17a. This interconnection member 18 is pivotally connected to each of said forwardly extending portions 16a and 17a and, in the form shown, is vertically adjustable as by being made in two telescopically arranged sections.

This longitudinally adjustable member 18 is designed with sufiicient frictional resistance to adjustment to maintain its adjusted length during operation thereof. An oustanding shelf member 19 is disposed at substantially right angles to said interconnection member 18 and therefore is of course disposed substantially horizontally regardless of the position of the slats 1G and 11 and this shelf is adapted to support an article thereon such as the small flower pot 20. A retaining hook member 21 is slidably mounted on the upstanding interconnection member 18 and has a retaining hook element 21st at the top thereof adapted to be received over the top edge portion of the flower pot 20 and to positively retain the same on said shelf 19. The hook 21 is slidably mounted on the interconnection member 18 and has a top rim-receiving recess formed adjacent the upper portion thereof to securely lock the flower pot 20 therein.

A diagonal bracing strut 22 which, in the form shown, is also longitudinally adjustable, is pivotally mounted at its upper end to the underside of shelf 19 at the outer portion thereof and the lower end is pivotally connected with an attachment clip 23 generally similar in design to the attachment clips 16 and 17 and which is adapted to be securely attached to slat 12 of the Venetian blind.

Form B of my invention is shown on the right hand side of Fig. l and in Fig. 4 wherein a pair of attachment clips 24 and 25 generally similar to the attachment clips 16, 17 and 23 are adapted to be secured to the respective Venetian blind slats 10 and 11.. A longitudinally adjustable vertically disposed interconnection member 26 pivotally interconnects the respective forwardly extending portions 24a and 25a of said clips 24 and 25 and of course the adjustment of member 26 as well as the adjustment of member 18 of my invention permits the spacing between the attachment clips to be varied with variations in the spacing between different Venetian blinds. A supporting shelf 27 is fixed in forwardly extending substantially horizontal position to said interconnection member 26 and, in the form shown, is connected atthe bottom thereof. Said shelf member of form B of my invention is designed to hold relatively light articles such as small china figures such as the. miniature bust 28 produces a twisting torque thereon, therefore necessitating in certain installations at least the interconnection of the edge portions of the mounting slats and 11 to be positively anchored to the cross webs 15. For this purpose, I provide an elongated stabilizing clip 30, best shown per se in Fig. 6 and adapted to have the lower flat portion thereof underlie the cross web 15 with the retaining hooks 30a adapted to clip over the top of said slat sought to be anchored and thereby positively interconnect the engaged edge portion of the slat to the web 15 adjacent the respective suspension tapes 13 or 14. Fig. 5 shows two clips 30 respectively connected at the front and rear edges of a typical slat such as the slat 10, thus positively interconnecting both the front and rear edge portions of the slat, in effect, to the suspension tapes 13 and 14.

The following is a description of the operation of my mounting bracket. A bracket is initially attached to the Venetian blind and, in form A of the invention, three attachment clips 16, 17 and 23 are securely anchored to three respective spaced slats 10, 11 and 12. In the form shown, these slats are disposed in adjacent relationship one to the other, but this of course is not necessary since, by elongating the bracket 18 and the strut 22, alternate slats could also be used. In form A of my invention, the anchoring hook 21 is initially attached to the upper rim flange of the flower pot and is subsequently connected to the interconnection member 18 as best shown in Fig. 1. This of course positively prevents shifting movement of the flower pot 20 on the supporting shelf 19 and permits the Venetian blind to be variably tilted and to be moved without any possibility of the pot 20 falling off of the shelf 19. A retaining flange may also be provided around the outer periphery of the shelf to prevent articles not positively anchored thereon from falling off. The strut 22 of course provides additional support for the outer portion of shelf 19 and permits a relatively heavy article such as the flower pot 20 with dirt and a reasonably large plant therein to be securely supported on said shelf. Obviously. the frictional adjustment of the length of said strut 22 has suffieient resistance to shifting movement to provide adequate support for the outer portion of said shelf. Obviously, the downward thrust of strut 22 will produce a twisting torque on the lower slat 12 and a clip may be used to positively anchor said slat to the supporting tapes 13 or 14 through the cross webs 15.

Form B of my invention is of course attached to the Venetian blind in exactly the same way as form A except that only two attachment clips 24 and 25 are provided and the shelf 27 is supported solely as a cantilever without the diagonal bracing strut 22. The anchoring hook 29 is of slightly different construction than the hook 21, as best shown in Figs. 1 and 4, but produces the same results in preventing the article 28 from falling otf of the shelf 27.

It will be seen that I have provided a novel and highly ingenious attachment bracket for supporting decorative articles on a Venetian blind while maintaining the same relative orientation of said article regardless of the tilted position of the Venetian blind slats. My attachment bracket is adapted to be connected with a variety of different sized Venetian blinds having various spacings between the slats thereof and is also adapted to positively anchor articles thereto to prevent the same from falling off of the supporting shelf.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportions of the parts without departing from the scope of my invention which, generally stated, consists in the matter shown and described herein and set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A bracket particularly constructed for attaching articles to a Venetian blind comprising at least a pair of spaced slat attachment elements constructed for rigid connection with a pair of vertically spaced Venetian blind slats, each or said attachment elements having a front end, an interconnection member having vertically spaced portions pivotally interconnecting the front ends of said elements, and attachment means for stably mounting an article on said interconnection member whereby said article will remain in the same relative oriented position regardless of the tilted relation of the Venetian blind slats.

2. The structure set forth in claim 1 and said interconnection member cing longitudinally adjustable to facili tate mounting on a variety of different Venetian blinds raving various spacings between the slats thereof.

3. The structure set forth in claim 1 and an antitilt element interconnecting the slats to which the article holding bracket is attached to the Venetian blind operating and supporting tape to prevent shifting of the slat relative to said tape.

4. The structure set forth in claim 1 and a horizontally disposed shelf rigidly connected with said interconnection member in outstanding relation thereto and adapted to support an article thereon.

5. The structure set forth in claim 4 and a diagonal bracing member pivotally connected at the outer end portion of said horizontal shelf, a slat attachment bracket adapted to be pivotally connected to a Venetian blind slat disposed below said shelf to provide support for the outer end thereof.

6. The structure set forth in claim 5 and said diagonal shelf brace being longitudinally adjustable to facilitate attachment to a variety of Venetian blinds having difierent slat spacings.

7. A bracket for attaching articles to a Venetian blind comprising at least a pair of vertically spaced slat mounting and receiving clips having forwardly extending portions at the front thereof and extending outwardly in forwardly spaced relation from the front edge of said slats, an interconnection member having vertically spaced portions pivotally interconnecting the front ends of said extensions, and attachment means substantially rigidly connected with said interconnection member at least when in operative position to positively attach an article thereto whereby said article will remain in substantially constant relative horizontal and vertical position regardless of the titled relation of the Venetian blind slats.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 247,676 Miller Sept. 27, 1881 1,128,324 Jones Feb. 16, 1915 1,376,924 Dixson May 3, 1921 2,243,799 Glosier May 27, 1941 2,266,294 Allderdice Dec. 16, 1941 2,367,256 Atkins Ian. 16, 1945 2,482,036 Stutz Sept. 13, 1949 2,498,944 Dyer Feb. 28, 1950 2,532,617 Hauser Dec. 5, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 492,458 Germany Feb. 22, 1930 581,092 Great Britain Oct. 1, 1946 779,845 France Apr. 13, 1935 

